“Oh, @*#&!!” Magdalena Highwind howled as a fuse exploded in her face and she fell backwards… downwards to be exact.

 Storm Strife, who had been quietly watching someone else, saw her falling and he ran, sliding onto the ground beneath her. “Oof!” he gasped as she fell on him “Geez, Maggie. How much do you weigh?”

 “Don’t @(#*ing ask,” she snapped at him. “Don’t you #(*ing dare ask.”

 “What happened?” Lucrecia Kisaragi asked as she ran up to them, her Wutain features etched with worry.

“Goddamn fuse blew up!” Magdalena snarled, blue eyes blazing. She ran a hand through her messy blond hair.

 “Oh. That.”

 “Oh, baby, baby!” Simon exclaimed as he approached. “Are you all right?”

 “*#&$ing all right. Where the hell were you??”

 Simon Reeve grinned. “Your dad was doing a spot of shouting at me just now.”

 Magdalena smiled. “I can’t imagine why. You’re such a nice guy.”

 “You should’ve been more careful,” Lucrecia admonished gently. The youngest of them all, she was a kind person. The older members of Avalanche tended to compare her to the great Aeris Gainsborough. “Let me help you.”

 “It’s just a goddamn blow-up, Lu! Leave me alone!”

 Lucrecia sighed and rolled her amber eyes. “Is there anything I can do for you, then?”

 “You can get me some goddamn tea,” Magdalena snapped.

 “Boy, does she really sound like him now!” Cloud commented as he and his wife ambled across the courtyard towards the four young people. “Cid’s grand cusses will soon be all the rage. And his goddamn tea, too.”

 “Ah heard that, Spiko!” Cid shouted from the window of a nearby building, where he and Shera had taken up permanent residence.

 “Dad, what’re you doin’??” Magdalena shouted. “You’re supposed to be in bed! Mom said you’re $(%*ing sick!!”

 Cid thumped his walking stick on the window sill. “Ah’m sixty-two, Maggie, but nothing’s gonna stop Cid Highwind from getting up every #$*@ing morning to see his baby at work!”

 Storm and Simon chuckled. Magdalena looked placated and waved merrily. Lucrecia rolled her eyes again and went back inside. Storm’s eyes followed.

 They were at their general headquarters, mainly buildings built into an airport-like base. There was an airfield big enough for a few ships, including the Highwind and the Tiny Bronco. President Reeve had made this a gift for the heroes who’d saved the Planet from the biggest threat ever faced.

 Meteor.

 And that Meteor had been a precedent setting event. In fact, it was so precedent setting, they began counting the years as After Meteor, or Before Meteor. It was now 30 A.M., and the original members of Avalanche had either stayed on, or left. Of all of them, Cid, Cloud and Tifa were the only ones left.

 Yuffie Kisaragi had become First Lady of Wutai about 8 A.M., and she gave birth to twins a year later to satisfy her people’s request that she produce an heir. Not wanting to marry and give another clan the throne, she had made quite an odd choice. All the rest of Avalanche had been shocked to hear of the affair she and Vincent Valentine had. Vincent Valentine?? they had all exclaimed when they heard of it. But both of them were quite happy with the arrangements, and Godo, named after Yuffie’s father, was now being groomed to rule Wutai. Their daughter Lucrecia was named after Vincent’s former lover. A few years later, they had another illegitimate daughter, Akiranni, causing a furore among the clans who were worried about Yuffie producing another potential heir.

 About 2 A.M., the group called the Turks had been dissolved. Now, the group was reinstated once again, by Simon’s suggestion. And who else to lead a group of Turks but an ex-Turk? And not Reno or Rude or Elena, either. They had spurring social lives and no longer wanted to do the dirty work they did back then. So Avalanche nominated Vincent Valentine, who had been a Turk sixty years ago. He had been a member back then, but with his free will decided to take the job. He took the young Turks just about everywhere he went, even on his visits to Wutai.

 Barret Wallace, sadly, had died of lung cancer, leaving behind his daughter Marlene and her four young children. Knowing their grandfather, they had all vowed to join Avalanche as soon as they were old enough, which made their father, a more practical man, wince.

 About 3 A.M., there had been reports of strange, lion-like beasts. Nanaki, or better known as RedXIII had gone to investigate and discovered a different strain of his species living underground near the Northern Crater. They had been trapped there but somehow survived, for the past two thousand years since Jenova fell. Nanaki invited them to live at Cosmo Canyon, where they could be sure of acceptance and they agreed. At the first reunion of Avalanche, Red had brought along Salene and introduced her to his friends. Now, he had a duty as Protector of Cosmo Canyon, though the other members and he exchanged visits throughout the years.

 “Someone’s looking at something!” Magdalena whispered hoarsely to Simon, who chuckled.

 Simon’s parents, the President and Vice-President of Shin-ra, had caused gossip mills to really move when they first got together. Reeve, Head of Urban Development, had won his bid to control the company, and Scarlet, then Head of Weapons Research, had been bitching about it. It got so bad that Reeve cut Scarlet a deal. They got married, Scarlet became Vice-President, and better yet, gained total control of the household. Still, they had an extremely happy marriage.

 Storm’s parents were famous throughout the Planet, for Cloud had been the leader of Avalanche. Storm loved his parents very much, and hoped to have a marriage every bit as happy as theirs someday. His mind wandered to the huge photo of their wedding, Cloud gazing at Tifa in adoration, while Tifa was smiling so happily. They had followed the age-old tradition of using the husband’s sword to cut the wedding cake, and Cloud’s hands were closed over Tifa’s as they held the Buster Sword together awkwardly, laughing at how ludicrous they looked.

 “I wish you guys would shut up,” Storm muttered.

 “We were just teasing you, Storm,” Magdalena said. “Why don’t you tell her? Or at least ask her out? I mean... she's been here about a year already.”

 Simon’s eyes lit up at hearing that. “Yeeeaaahhh… Maggie, are you free tonight?”

 “What for?”

 “Well…” Simon’s blond eyebrows waggled suggestively. “You and me could have a good time while Storm got to know Lucrecia better…”

 Magdalena snickered evilly. Then she sighed. “Sorry, but Lu and I have a singing competition to attend tonight.”

 “Darn. Never mind. Couldn’t we just watch you two?”

 Storm looked up expectantly. “I’d love to hear Lu - you guys sing,” he covered his blunder.

 Magdalena looked at her old friend oddly. “You really like her,” she said thoughtfully.

 “What’s that to you?” Storm asked, a bit defensively.

 Simon, Storm and Magdalena had been together for the past twenty years, since they were little children, in fact. Their parents worked closely together, so they did too. Lucrecia had spent her first years in Wutai, her homeland. When she was ten, Vincent, her father, asked her if she would like to go travelling with him. She said yes, and was bounced from school to school, stopping only long enough to pass exams with flying colours. When she was seventeen, she was enrolled into a university; the longest Vincent had stayed in any place. It was there that Magdalena had met her as senior of that same university.

 After graduating, Magdalena stayed in touch with Lucrecia, and when Vincent left the team to become leader of the Turks, Lucrecia offered to fill his place. She was the new scientist of Avalanche, something they never had before.

 In a way, too, she replaced Aeris Gainsborough, the gentle young Cetra who had given up her life to help save the Planet. On occasion, some of the older members would accidentally call her Aeris. Lucrecia knew who Aeris was, and she was deeply honoured to be compared to the woman known as the Planet’s greatest angel.

 So it was surprising to Simon and Magdalena that their friend, who usually spoke to girls with ease, who could actually manage to charm half the girls in one room within a few seconds of introduction, would be so tongue-tied when with this one girl. Just one girl. Simon was just as good at charming as Storm, but he certainly wasn’t tongue-tied around Lucrecia as Storm was. In
fact, Simon found himself slightly intimidated by her. However, he didn’t lose his wits.

 “Come to the singing competition tonight, then,” Magdalena told Storm. “Lucrecia is singing the vocals, I’m only providing the harmony chorale.”

 “I…” Storm began. Then he smiled. “Thanks, Maggie.”

 “Now, you have to go provide Lucrecia with a test subject. Remember, she wanted to test how your father’s genetics have influenced your skills and-”

 “I know, I know,” Storm muttered.

 “How’s the research so far?” Simon asked.

 “Apparently, Dad’s MAKO-infused blood has somehow passed on to me, though in part only due to the halved chromosomes of reproductive cells. It’s quite fascinating, though, that Dad’s Jenova-infused cells have somehow been unable to be reproduced as reproductive cells, so I don’t have any. Jenova-infused cells somehow aren’t compatible with human cells.”

 “You should work with Lucrecia in the science department,” Simon muttered, trying to digest all that information.

 “I already do,” Storm muttered in return. “Thank gods she doesn’t get me bare-assed just to study me.”

 They shuddered, remembering the stories of the evil Professor Hojo.

 “But, she’s been talking about archaeology lately, though. Hey, wanna see if we can go find the City of the Ancients?” Storm suggested. "My dad's supporting the idea."

 Simon looked at his friend in bemusement for a moment. “Isn’t that where… the great Aeris was… murdered?” he ended softly.

 Magdalena nodded somberly. Somehow, the subject of Aeris’ death seemed to affect even the younger generation. “By the insane General Sephiroth.”

 “Gods, I don’t want to think about it that way,” Storm sighed. “Lucrecia wants to go there to study the city. She thinks she can find some hieroglyphs that’ll help in her research of Jenova.”

 “What’s her business with Jenova? The alien’s dead,” Simon said.

 “Scientific curiousity,” Magdalena replied, shrugging. “You know how wacko scientists can get.”

 “I resent that!” Storm’s slightly glowing blue eyes suddenly flashed.

 “Lucrecia excluded,” Magdalena amended. “Lucrecia does have the curiosity which killed the cat, though. Truth be told, I am kind of interested myself. But I’m more into the Lifestream questions, you know.”

 “So philosophical, my dear,” Simon said mildly. “That’s a side I haven’t seen before.”

 “You haven’t seen a lot of things, Simon Reeve.” Magdalena smiled. “I’m off to practise with Lucrecia now for tonight.”

 “I’ll come,” Storm said quickly, rising.

 “Somehow, I knew he’d say that,” Simon said drolly.